The focal point of Trinity's collegiate life — the Dining Hall
SECURING THE FUTURE INDEPENDENCE OF TRINITY AS A TRUE COLLEGE From the Warden, Dr Evan L Burge The Minister for Education, Senator Susan Ryan, recently announced a cut of 25 per cent from 1984 in the Government's recurrent grant to University Colleges and Halls of Residence. For Trinity this means a drop from the 1983 level of $72,000 to $54,000 next year, instead of the $79,000 we might have expected if the grant had continued to be indexed for inflation. To recover this from student fees means an increase of $2.50 per student each week, quite apart from any rise due to inflation. Not surprisingly, the Australian Association of Heads of Colleges has been making urgent submissions to the Minister directly and through the Tertiary Education Commission. Many of us feel that the whole concept of collegiate education is under threat. The tendency is to think of mere board and lodging instead of the broad social and educational purposes of college life. I am told that in some official circles the term "medieval" is being used, in a contemptuous tone, to describe places like Trinity. The contempt is not justified. It shows ignorance both of colleges and of the middle ages. Our tradition began in Oxford and Cambridge eight centuries ago. The whole basis of it was then, and still is, to bring together masters and learners in a community where they can interact fruitfully. In their submission, the Heads point out that only two or three years ago the Tertiary Education Commission adopted a definition of "collegiate residence" which included the following list of activities relating to the social and cultural development of students: (1)
Debate or discussion on matters of current concern;
(2)
Visiting speakers from the University or the community;
(3)
Association with the residences of University staff members and others of scholarly or professional distinction;
(4)
Encouragement to members to take responsibility for the various aspects of College life;
(5)
Opportunities for members to meet across faculty, national and socio-economic boundaries.
The University lacks no capacity, the College Heads point out, to turn out highly proficient technologists. There would be few people, however, who are not concerned about the threat to our culture and our civilisation by the continuing and ever-widening rift between technology and humanist values.
The College experience does as much or more than anything else to expose young people to the contribution that both forms of human study, arts and science, can make to the maturing of judgement and personal development. Recently a survey was conducted among College residents throughout Australia by Professor David Beswick. His survey contained a set of questions based on the agreed definition of collegiate activities. The questions were designed to elicit the level of satisfaction experienced by students in respect to these activities. Professor Beswick's comment on the answers to these questions is: "When the students were asked to nominate the most important aspects of college or hall residence from a long list of attributes, they most often nominated study facilities. Supporting academic services including individual help with study and tutorials were also mentioned. An equally emphasized theme was social activities, meeting people and developing social skills. These two major themes are .. . what collegiate life is traditionally expected to provide and it is significant that students continue to value such services." (see Table 11, Beswick Report) I was interested to discover privately from Professor Beswick that the level of student satisfaction is even higher in traditional institutions, like the Colleges of the University of Melbourne, than in other colleges and halls. His survey also shows that although the parents of students here are generally better educated than the parents of students in other places they are, in general, not wealthier. It is simply that they prefer to spend their money on the education of their children.
A few weeks ago I met a student in Canberra. She had moved recently from a College which had been converted to a virtual hostel, with its dining hall turned into a series of shared "cook-your-own-meal" kitchens. She had moved from there to A PUBLICATION OF TRINITY COLLEGE WITHIN THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE a traditional College and told me what a relief it was "to belong Registered by Australia Post — Publication No. VBG 4336 to a place where someone cared about you".
Council Bursaries, Work Bursaries, and a Warden's "discretionary fund" all ensure that we are not the preserve of only the wealthy few. The number of applicants from State High Schools, although still not large, has been growing steadily. In keeping with a policy of fostering diversity within the College, ten per cent of Trinity places have gone to academically well-qualified students attending RMIT, Lincoln Institute, and other Colleges of Advanced Education. We have been richer for the valuable contributions made by these people to our corporate life.
In Colleges like Trinity most students seemed to feel instinctively the importance of belonging to a community where they would share their talents with others (whether these involve academic work, art, sport, music, organizing social functions, or just being a good friend). In recent years, Trinity has been on the crest of a wave, with a lively, friendly and infectious "College spirit".
Despite this story of successful adaptation and diversification, Colleges in general, and especially traditional Colleges like Trinity, must once more defend themselves. If the recent treatment of grants to independent schools is any guide, the next review of the Colleges' grant is unlikely to favour any of the Melbourne Colleges, and certainly not the older ones like ourselves. How shall we react to all this? My answer is unequivocal: "We have confidence in the value of the collegiate experience for as many university students as possible." The kind of academic community which Trinity represents has stood the test of eight centuries. It offers an enjoyable and stimulating environment in which young adults can grow into better equipped and more aware people. It is a precious inheritance which must be secured from the changing whims of successive ministers and governments.
•
The Warden of the College, Dr Evan Burge, pictured at a recent College function. In the foreground is the Syd Wynne Memorial Candelabra.
It is providential that the Trinity College Foundation was already taking steps to secure the independence and future well-being of the College even before the recent financial cuts. It is also clear that, as in Oxford and Cambridge, the holding of vacation conferences will be an increasingly important way by which a College must secure its financial independence without having to set fees too high for students and their families to afford. There are dangers in this kind of enterprise which can be avoided only if those who carry the administrative leadership of Colleges keep their eyes firmly fixed on the reasons why Colleges exist at all. Conferences, of course, involve inconvenience for both staff and students — it would be far easier not to have to bother with them and to keep the attractive facilities we have inherited just for ourselves. Trinity has come through far worse crises than the one we now face through the reduction, and threatened removal, of the Government grant. We shall come through this one too, because so many of our past and present students are grateful for what they have received here. They understand from experience the broad educational goals and values of the College. The time has come for all members of Trinity, and all who have the good of the College at heart, to ensure that the benefits we enjoy here will be available to future generations.
WHY HAVEN'T I BEEN APPROACHED YET? Almost everyone in the Trinity family wants the Foundation to succeed, and wants to do his or her share towards that success. Not surprisingly, people are beginning to ask: "Why haven't I been approached?" The answer is simple. The Foundation is still in its infancy. The committee is determined to plan every move thoroughly. No outside fund-raiser is being employed. It is a truism that in all successful campaigns of this scope the most important thing is the level of the initial gifts. The Foundation is now seeking Governors (donors of $25,000 and more) and Patrons ($10,000 and more). We already have five Governors and seven Patrons. If you have not yet been approached do not think that you have been forgotten. The ultimate aim of the Foundation is to have all Trinity members as generous contributors — generous in proportion to their means and other responsibilities. Achieving this will take some time yet, even though the need is urgent. The Executive Committee is working tirelessly towards this end.
OUR PATRON : THE HOLY TRINITY With his address on the octave of Trinity Sunday Archbishop Sir Frank Woods reflected on the significance of the Trinity for an academic institution such as ours. God has greatly blessed our College, and it is in thanksgiving that we print Sir Frank's stirring address here: When a preacher is asked to the celebration of a church's patron saint, the sort of sermon that he should, or perhaps would be expected, to preach is fairly obvious. He will be expected to use what is known of the Saint to provide the main emphasis or at least to support the main emphasis of the Christian truth that he wishes to convey. The same is true of the festivals of Our Lord — at Christmas and Easter he can only play variations on the same theme. With the festivals of the Ascension and Pentecost the task is less obvious and, I would think, more difficult. Both he would claim to be historical events, in the sense that the event recorded certainly took place at a time and place that can be established by historical research, but the significance of either event is not illuminated by historical research; and it could be maintained that the traditional language used to record the events positively obscures their meaning. To call either event historical may be so misleading as to convey falsehood rather than truth. If this can be the case with regard to the words (which in a few moments we shall repeat) "he ascended into heaven and is seated on the right hand of God the Father Almighty", how much truer may it be of the words which, I see, we are not to repeat (in spite of the Trinity Sunday rubric) — not even to sing! ("You needn't mean what you sing; only what you say") — words which are meant to define our Patron. "The Godhead of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, is all one ... the Father uncreate, the Son
uncreate and the Holy Ghost uncreate: The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible ... and yet there are not three incomprehensibles, nor three uncreated but one uncreated and one incomprehensible ... which faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly." I don't think I would blame you if you were, at this point, to stand up and protest — either by walking out or by shouting at me that if those words are a description of our Patron, then we cannot joyfully celebrate the Holy Trinity. Or perhaps you will keep silence and groan inwardly at the thought that your college and this chapel have been saddled with an entirely incomprehensible and utterly outmoded patronage. Perhaps you wish that we had the patronage of a saint such as St. Francis, whose memory would stimulate you to compassion, or even a fictitious saint like St. George, whose memory might stimulate you to fight against the modern dragons of political oppression and world poverty. It may be that the compilers of our Prayer Book, which we here, in good modern style call A.A.P.B., thought like this. They didn't want to be reminded of the incomprehensible Holy Trinity by naming a third of all Sundays in the year after Trinity, as the Book of Common Prayer uniquely did, so they chose the word ORDINARY which could neither perplex our secularized minds nor offend our egalitarian ideology. So, though we here have ignored A.A.P.B. and are celebrating the Holy Trinity today, actually this Sunday is not the First Sunday after Trinity, but the 10th Ordinary Sunday. What could be more ordinary than that? So we escape being reminded of mysteries beyond our understanding. You will, I hope, have gathered by now that far from regretting that we, the members of this college, live and worship under the distinguished patronage (as the advertisements say) of the Holy Trinity, far from it, I glory in it, and I hope you do too.
think so already, you will in the end agree that a dedication to the Holy Trinity, particularly appropriate, challenging and stimulating for a College, is very rightly a matter for great celebration.
Trinity College Chapel Here are some words we have just heard from Psalm 89:
Who is he among the clouds that shall be compared unto the Lord? And what is he among the gods that shall be like unto the Lord? God is very greatly to be feared in the council of the saints: and to be held in reverence by them that are round about him. O Lord God of Hosts, who is like unto Thee: thy Truth, most mighty Lord, is on every side. It is as well that an academic institution should be reminded of, and glory in, the incomprehensibility of God. If he were not so, there would be little to celebrate. God would be ordinary. But God is not ordinary. He is beyond all imagining, beyond all verbal description, a terrifying almightiness, a deep mystery "to be held in reverence by all those who are about Him" — we are "about Him" and we worship Him kneeling in reverent awe with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven. Our generation seldom if ever experiences awe, and is accordingly deprived of one of the greatest attributes of humanity. Animals can feel fear. Only humans can feel awe. A father was gazing up at a star-lit sky, and filled with a sense of awe, he said out loud, "The heavens declare the glory of God." His ten year old son, at his side, only said, "Dad, which one did we put up?" We worship and celebrate our God who is Father, Creator of heaven and earth, eternal, almighty, incomprehensible, and we, finite, mortal human beings, are exalted and gain in stature because we can recognize the incomprehensible and fall before Him. An academic institution which, with all the magnificent achievements of science and philosophy, knows how little it knows, and worships the Lord beyond all knowing, by so doing fittingly celebrates the patronage of God the Father almighty.
I admit that I am glad that the Athanasian Creed does not occur in Scripture, nor, as a matter of fact, does the word Trinity occur. So we need not express our glorifying in precisely those words. The words of the creed are no more — and no less — than an attempt of the Church of the 4th Century, beset as it was by the onslaught of heretical and very popular heresy, to put into words, appropriate to that age, what it conceived to be the teaching of Scripture.
So much for the Psalm. But if that were the last word about God we would be left in the poverty of our finitude and ignorance. We could only, like our cousins of the Islamic faith, bow low so that our foreheads touched the ground, and admit that our only relationship to God almighty would be one of submissive awe. Said the Mohammedan chauffeur of the Anglican Bishop in Egypt and the Sudan when reprimanded by the bishop for running over a blind man: "I couldn't help it. It was the will of Allah."
So I thankfully turn to Scripture and particularly to those passages which have been read to us. I hope that, if you don't
So we turn to St. Paul; he is addressing Christians who had been converted from paganism. "You", he says, "Who once were far
off, now in Christ Jesus have been brought near in the blood of Christ ... Through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father." After all, according to St. Paul, we are not left grovelling at the feet of the incomprehensible almighty; no: to our astonished gratification the far-off God has come near, has shed his incomprehensibility and has not only made himself be known, but has taken action to reveal his true nature of love by coming amongst us, by taking upon himself our humanity, accepting the limitations of humanness, even to the human limitation of death.
Archbishop Sir Frank Woods pictured at the Fleur-de-Lys Dinner held earlier this year. For the want of a better word Christians call this experience salvation and the agent of it 'Saviour'. Words are quite inadequate here as in all expressions of the doctrine of the Trinity. We can only use metaphor after metaphor — made near to God in Christ: mysterious, yes: but then all human relationships are mysterious. We are filled with wonder and we fall on our knees before the loving God-in-Christ, just as we did before the incomprehensible almighty. My God how wonderful thou art Thy majesty how bright How beautiful thy mercy-seat In depths of burning light. Oh, how I fear thee, Living God With deepest, tenderest fears And worship thee with trembling hope And penitential tears. Yet I may love thee too, O Lord, Almighty as thou art For thou has stooped to ask of me The love of my poor heart. This is salvation, that the gap is bridged: the gap between human and divine; between mortal and immortal, between the sinner and the judge; and strangely enough, the gaps of natural life, they are bridged too: between male and female, old and young, past and present, and that most terrible gap of all — the void beyond death. That is bridged too. And what about that gap between joy and pain? Between health and sickness? Is God aloof from the violence, the oppression, the torture, that his people suffer? No, he is not aloof. His impassibility does not mean that he doesn't suffer with his people; it means that his suffering is self-willed: in his almighty power he chooses weakness and suffering — if he were less than almighty, less than impassible, he could be manipulated by his creation. He does not destroy suffering; he truly embraces it. "No man", said Jesus, "can take my life away from me: I lay it down myself." This gap too is bridged.
FOR YOUR DIARY
This bridge could only be thrown across, as it were, from the other side — the side of mystery and infinity. We call the bridge the Incarnation of God and no better name could be found than God the Son. We may fittingly glory in the Patronage of God the Son. And just as our humanity is exalted and our nature increased by the human capacity to fall in awe before God the Father Almighty, so our humanity is immeasurably exalted in finding ourselves united to the divine, and we dare, with the writer to the Hebrews, call God the Son our elder brother. I can't help thinking that a university and a college within it, has a very special responsibility to counteract the dehumanising tendencies of modern industrial ife. We are being computerised, reduced to numbers on a tape, reduced to paper in a file, reduced to being tools of industry so that instead of industry serving our humanity we humans serve the industrial machine. In Christ, people are ends, not means. But you will of course realise that there is an enormous area of life of which so far I have not spoken. What about the fact of human excellence? How do we account for skill, for art from a table-leg to Chartres Cathedral? How do we account for the sages of every nation and of every period of history — the poets, the philosophers, the scholars? How do we account for leadership? And what about prayer? And what about the saints, the good men and women who have shone like lamps in every age and in every religion? If you like, how do we account for this Goodness in very ordinary people? It is commonly accepted by all who excel in whatever virtue of morality or art that their excellence was a gift, not an attribute which they have self-created. The word "inspiration" may give us a clue. "God breathed into man the Breath of Life and he became a living soul." By faith we know that all goodness, all beauty, all truth is the gift of God — and we give God a name — Holy Spirit. Jesus himself accepted that he was inspired, and preached his first sermon from the words of our first reading: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has annointed me." So we cannot help making a differentiation: we worship God as Father Almighty; we love God in Jesus Christ his Son, and we owe all that is good, true and beautiful to the invisible Spirit, who works always through and in his creation, animal, vegetable, mineral and human. Like the breath we breathe — without it we could not live. He is the breath — without God the Holy Spirit there would be no life, no world, no universe. It is as well that an academic institution should not neglect to ascribe its spirit, its wisdom, its science, its scholarship to the unseen and unobtrusive, and that it worships God the Holy Spirit, the guide into all truth, the sanctifier of all life. Three Persons in One God, Unity in Trinity, remains a mystery. But let us contemplate what Hodgson has so aptly said: "The idea of personality implies a plurality of persons. We cannot think of life as truly personal unless it be a life of intercourse between persons ... The doctrine of the Trinity implies that in the eternal being of God ... there exist all the elements necessary for a full personal life." This is more simply put by St. John. "God is Love." And so to God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, Three Persons in One God, let us ascribe all honour, majesty and glory, and let us thank him that he allows us to call our College by his Name of Trinity.
TO CELEBRATE THE CENTENARY OF UNION OF THE FLEUR-DE-LYS
Special Gala Dinner Friday 10th February 1984 at TRINITY COLLEGE
BILL COWAN LOOKS AT THE CHALLENGES FACING YOUNG PEOPLE IN AUSTRALIA On Tuesday 2nd August 1983 the term of the first woman Senior Student, Miss Lisa Stewart, ended with the Senior Student's Dinner and announcement of her successor. Andrew Maughan, who was photographed winning the Men's 200 metres at the Intercollegiate Sports Meeting in last year's November issue of the Newsletter, was elected Senior Student 1983/84. The toast to the new incumbent was proposed by Mr William D.T. Cowan, Senior Student at Trinity in 1966. Mr Cowan returned to Australia in 1982 after some twelve years spent in the United Kingdom and the United States. He graduated with a Master of Business Administration from Harv ard in 1972 and then joined McKinsey and Company in Melbourne. Mr Cowan has recently been appointed Managing Director of Techcom Australia Pty. Ltd., a new communications and media company. In a speech which proved highly controversial, Mr Cowan posed the following question to the 250 students present at the Dinner:
Are you ready for the challenges and opportunities ahead? Tonight I want to try to frame some major challenges for you. These are challenges which I believe we as a nation, and you as young people going out to make your mark on the world, are about to face. I strongly believe these are important challenges for all of us here in Australia. This may be because I have been overseas for most of the last twelve years and therefore have an opportunity to take a somewhat more detached view of "home" than many other Australians. I will over-simplify in order to be brief, realizing that this may raise your adrenalin level a few percent! Three major challenges confront all developed countries and particularly Australia. These are the challenges — first, of capitalizing effectively on the massive change in technology which is about to deluge us; second, of maximizing our competitive positions in our increasingly global economy; and third, of rolling back the influence of large, inefficient governments. Change may come to Australia in each of these areas more quickly than in other countries. This could happen because we have a small economy in which many of our older industries are particularly vulnerable. Some of our industries have been protected from world competition for a long time. Another reason why change may come here more rapidly is that we do not have the tangled webs of hallowed traditions, or the smugness of some countries (particularly those in Europe) which makes it difficult for them to change. Finally, of course, we are a relatively wealthy nation where people are willing to learn and can afford to take risks. I believe we are in for exciting times. Those of us who can adapt to these big changes ahead will be like surf-board riders on the crest of a wave. Those of us who cannot or will not adapt will most likely find they miss the wave or get dumped. Please do not be like the old man I once met who said: "I've seen a lot of changes in this place over the last 60 years, and I've fought every damn'd one of them." Remember the old riddle: "What's worse, ignorance or apathy?" The people we need to be careful of in these changing times are those who answer: "I don't know and I don't care." Capitalizing on massive technology change First to technology: The change in the power of various technologies during the past twenty years — most particularly in electronics — has been quite mind-boggling. Most people just do not understand the progress that has been made. An analogy with the relative progress in the motor-car industry might help to put things into perspective. If a family sedan had made as much technological progress as micro-electronics has since 1950, it would now cost less than one dollar to buy, would travel nearly 2 million kilometres per litre of petrol, and would develop sufficient power to fly an Airbus. These new cars would also be awfully small: about six would fit on the head of a pin. As a result of this technological progress many mature industries are in trouble. But more important for those of us in this Dining Hall, major new industries are emerging. Apple Computer was started seven years ago by Steven Jobs, who by the way, never made it to University. Apple now has annual sales of over $1 billion, and employs nearly 50,000 people. If Apple were an
Mr William D.T.
Cowan, son of the third Warden of Trinity
Australian company it would have been one of the top 20 companies in this country last year. And given the rate at which it is growing, it would most likely be in the top 10 this year. Not bad for a seven year old company run by a Chairman in his late twenties. The technological revolution which is now beginning will rapidly change the way we live. Some observers think that the people whose jobs will be most affected by this revolution will be the established professions: doctors, lawyers, and teachers. In other words, many of you here tonight. They may be right. Evidence shows right now that patients are more truthful discussing their symptoms with a computer, that computers are outstanding at identifying precedents for law cases, and that pupils love the computer as a teaching machine. I believe that those of you who can think ahead of the crowd in your profession will find extraordinary opportunities there. These technological changes are just beginning to have a major impact in developed countries. If you want a thrilling experience go to a show demonstrating personal computers. You will find excited teenagers all over the machines. Those of you over 20 will have to work hard to catch up. There is a lot happening out there. Even Trinity now has a powerful computer! So my first challenge to you is to adapt to and exploit the technological change that is about to hit us. Competing effectively in the global economy Second, competing effectively in the global economy; the world is moving quite rapidly to a much more highly competitive global economy. The countries which will be most successful in this changing environment will be those which can
deliver excellent products at low cost. To remain competitive this usually means increasing labour activity year by year as real wages grow.
sector. In other words, the bureaucracy and related non-market activities have been expanding more quickly than the private sector.
Australia's record has been particularly poor in this regard. In the last 20 years our labour productivity in industry has increased by about 60% in all. In Japan the number is five times this amount, closer to 300% growth. Partly as a result of this poor productivity growth, Australia's growth in exports during the last decade has been the lowest recorded amongst major Western nations. It should not be surprising therefore, that Australia's share of world trade has halved over the past twenty years.
Given this situation it is rather healthy for us to ask ourselves: why do we in such a small country need so many levels of government and so many state-run enterprises?
On a world basis, our labour productivity is appalling. For instance, various analysts have indicated that: — GMH and Ford in Australia need three times as many. production workers as Toyota in Japan to make a car. — The State railways in Australia need five times as many staff as U.S. railroads to move a ton of freight. — Shippers are often charged more to ship cargo by sea from Melbourne to Tasmania than from Melbourne to Europe, over 50 times the distance. The reasons for this less than glorious performance can be debated at length. After all is said and done, however, the reasons seem to come down in essence to a lack of willingness by managers, workers and the government to accept the new competitive realities facing us. The frightening thing is that our problems as a nation may be better documented and understood in the board-rooms in New York, London and Tokyo than they are here in this country. Of particular concern is our poor performance in labour relations: we cannot, if we want to remain credible as an industrialized nation, continue with our atrocious labour relations record. In 1981, with only 1% of world trade, we managed to achieve 50% of the world dock strikes. And deliveries of oil to Sydney from Bass Strait were less reliable than shipments from the Middle East, a war zone! These are facts of which we cannot be proud. In economies based on a competitive free enterprise system firms go out of business if they cannot compete. This is a self cleansing process. Part of Australia's problem today relates to the fact that so much of our workforce has been in protected industries, or has worked in a protected environment for the government. As a result, this self-cleansing process has been delayed. Thus it is likely to be much more traumatic when it does occur. It is only now in this deep and, for many people, devastating recession that we are beginning to get our act together. There is no doubt that, given the right motivation and conditions, we can compete effectively in this country if we want to. For example, our road freight system is one of the most competitive and cost-effective in the world. So we can do it — but it is unfortunate that we have left it so late to stop protecting and subsidizing the losers. It is too bad that we require a major recession to make us pull up our socks. So my second challenge to you is to learn to compete effectively in our newly emerging global economy. If we don't, our relative standard of living will continue to decline. In case you had not realized it, our place on the standard-of-living ladder (as measured by GNP per capita) has slipped from 5th to 11th during the past 20 or so years, while at the same time Japan's has risen from 50th to 12th. Rolling back large inefficient government Our third challenge is to roll back large inefficient government. In Australia our Federal, State and Local governments participate in our economy to a greater extent than any other advanced country in the world except the Scandinavians. Today about 40% of our GNP is spent by our governments. Today more than 1 person in 4 in the Australian workforce is employed in the non-market sector. In Japan the proportion is 1 in 16. Judging by its economic performance, Japan does not seem to be suffering too badly from its small public service. A particularly worrying feature in Australia is the fact that 3 out of 4 new jobs during the last decade occurred in the non-market
Australia has another potential problem with government: our continuing centralization of government and the bureaucracy in Canberra. Most successful large companies around the world have learned that centralization rarely works during times of great changë. Yet we as a country are continuing to centralize, building on a public service in which more and more people are second and third generation bureaucrats with limited experience outside Canberra. In a recent poll of top public servants in the Australian capital, three quarters expressed "only some confidence" in the effectiveness of the Public Service. With such a large bureaucracy with such little confidence in itself we may have quite a problem as a nation. Over the past few years we have seen tax strikes in California and Massachusetts. We have seen leaders in the U.S.A. and the U.K. elected on platforms of reducing the size and power of governments. It is interesting to contemplate how long Australia will permit its bureaucracy to grow. When a reduction in the size of government does occur, which I believe is inevitable in one way or another as we find we just cannot afford such a big ineffective government, your challenge will be to take the initiative in an economy with fewer safety nets and, hopefully, fewer strangling lines.
Great challenges and opportunities I wanted to remind you tonight that we are entering a period of extraordinary change. This is important to understand because most of these changes are beginning here right now. This is bad news for people in inefficient industries, but it could be good news for many of you. It should be good news for you because instability provides magnificent opportunities for people with initiative. You have the advantage of not being wedded to the established system. As a result, change is something that you can make work for you rather than against you. When everything is stable — when everything has a name and a place — it is difficult for individuals, especially young people, to have an impact. But in times of change an individual's power and leverage can be enormous. Those of you who are creative, willing to take risks and who have a good sense of where things are heading, will achieve a great deal. And you will have tremendous fun doing it too. Good luck! The reactions to this speech, and the discussions that went on well into the night, demonstrated one of the things that College life is all about. "It made me feel really inspired", was one student's comment. "Is he really more right-wing than Genghis Khan?" asked another. "What about the poor and unemployed? Why all this emphasis on standard of living?" "Materialistic but yet visionary" was perhaps the fairest comment. "Of course I am concerned about the unemployed," replied Mr Cowan. "The point is that if Australia keeps going the way it has been, it won't have the means to take effective steps to deal with these important problems. The main message of my talk is that this should be a great time of opportunity for young people — if they are ready to seize the initiative."
GIFTS TO THE COLLEGE A framed etching of the Library at Trinity College Cambridge given by Dr Robin Sharwood (fourth Warden) to the members of the Cripps Room in recognition of his attendance at the inaugural dinner of the Room Four prints of paintings by Eugen Von Guerard, given by Mr Robert B. Lewis (1937) Five books on architectural subjects for the Leeper Library, given by Mr Colin H. Caldwell (1931)
J
LEWIS CHARLES WILCHER First Dean of Trinity 1934-1940 Died 16th July, 1983
The appointment of Lewis Charles Wilcher as the first Dean of Trinity was one of great significance. In the previous year there had been a crisis in College life and the five members of the College Club Committee had been refused permission to return into residence the following year. The College Council supported the Warden, Dr Behan, in this decision but they saw clearly that some action must be taken about the Warden's failure in personal relations with the student body. Their decision was that the office of Sub-warden be abolished and that there should be an entirely new appointment of a full-time Dean who would be a member of the Council, and share with the Warden the responsibility for the life and discipline of the College. Wilcher was admirably suited for this task. After school and university in Adelaide, he was appointed Rhodes Scholar in 1932, and proceeded to Balliol College, Oxford, where he had a successful academic career. He came to Trinity straight from Oxford, and took up a Senior Lectureship in Economic History at the University. He had an active mind and many interests, in people and in sports, cricket in particular. Trinity then was a much smaller place than now, and was a particularly happy place of fellowship. Some 110 men were in residence in the College buildings: Miss Joske's ladies were in purdah in J.C.H. As the men's interests were very much more than now centred in College affairs it was necesary that some members of staff should have a similar concentration of interests. Wilcher accepted this. For example, he was a member of the Second Eighteen, prominent by reason of both his abilities and his red hair, and the custom arose that when he was playing, a melancholy but cheerful chant should go round the ground: "Sink the Dean". It was during his deanship that several famous rags took place, such as the removal of the J.C.H. gates. These new gates were to
NEWS OF TRINITY MEMBERS Sir Clive FITTS (1919), returned in July from a pilgrimage which included three weeks in his old haunts — Brompton Chest Hospital, London Hospital, and Maternal Health — 'à la recherche du temps perdu'. Thomas Harold ODDIE (1929), co-founder of the Juttoddie Steeplechase, has now built his house in Panorama Parade, Scotts Head, N.S.W. Bob LEWIS (1937) has retired from the Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research and with his wife Betty is moving back to Bridgewater in the Adelaide hills. Bill MUNTZ (1950) is still in Dimboola, and is now Consultant to the law practice which his father bought in 1926 and which he joined in 1956. Michael WEBB (1951), who like Barry Capp and Bill Cowan followed an Engineering degree with another in Commerce, is still in Accounting practice. He is a Director of several companies, especially ones involved with sporting goods. Game fishing is one of his leisure activities.
be dedicated on a Saturday afternoon; they were installed on the Friday, but by Saturday morning they had disappeared. Wilcher as Dean, perambulated the College when the loss was discovered. His eye lit on one of the students with an overdeveloped sense of humour, and he challenged him: "Did you and your friends take the gates last night?" The student showed every sign of moral indignation at a false accusation. The Dean then began to apologise, but the student said: "By the time we got there, the gates were already gone!" (The gates were later found in the gardens of Bishopscourt.) At the outbreak of war, Wilcher joined the Australian Army Educational Service in which he served for six years, and finished by being Deputy Director with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. From 1947 until the end of his working life he was with the British Colonial Service. First he was Principal of the Gordon College at Khartoum, then a University College but destined to become a university. He had special problems since the loyalty of the students was in the main not to Britain but to the Arab world. In his time he was responsible for the erection of some fine buildings. In 1955 he was awarded the C.B.E. In 1956 he was appointed Head of Queen Elizabeth House, Oxford, a Colonial Office Training and Conference Centre. He held this post until 1968 when he retired. He had taken a full part in a great achievement by the Colonial Office. In 1946 there were only two universities in the countries of the old Empire. In 1970 there were thirty-five. No assessment of his achievements can be made without a tribute to his wife Vere, who has brought and brings to every relationship and situation a grace, a distinction, and a deep sense of duty. To her goes our affectionate sympathy. The Right Reverend John McKie Bishop John McKie was Chaplain of the College and a colleague of Lewis Wilcher from 1936 to 1939.
John SKUJA (1955) has been appointed Chief Projects Engineer in the Coal Department of BP Australia Limited, and will be working in BP's Sydney Office. Dr Harry SMYTHE (Lecturer in Theology 1960), after spending a period recently at St. Barnabas' College Adelaide, has been appointed Librarian at Pusey House, Oxford. David WELLS (1961) — we congratulate David and his wife Tinka on the birth of a daughter, Victoria Boyd, on 24th August, 1983. Paul HARVIE (1961) is Chaplain of Grimwade House, M.C.E.G.S. (since January 1st, 1982) and continues at Christ Church Brunswick, as Director of Music. Alan McKENZIE (1961) is Master of Austin College, University of New England, and couples this with part-time University teaching in both Chemistry and Physics. He also has a research project in the Northern Territory on air-borne transport of materials. Last December he married Denise (née Sadleir). Robin William MOONEY (1961) lives at Speers Point, N.S.W. He is History Master at Gateshead High School.
John DAVIS (1964) is returning to Germany on 1st October,
1983. He spent the year June 1981 — May 1982 on sabbatical leave from the Department of Physiology, University of Melbourne, at the Physiological Institute, University of Munich, West Germany. For this period he had been awarded a Research Fellowship by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. This was extended for a further four months from November to March 1983. He is taking up a further research fellowship in October. Michael GEORGEFF (1964) has recently taken up a position at
the Stanford Research Institute at Palo Alto, California. His father (Dr. Nicholas Georgeff, 1940) has kindly filled in a gap in our records: after graduating as Bachelor of Engineering at Melbourne Michael received his Bachelor of Aeronautical Engineering with the University Medal at Sydney University. He then obtained his Doctorate in that field at London University. He held lectureships in Mathematics at La Trobe and Adelaide Universities and was lecturer in Computer Science at Monash. In his field of Artificial Intelligence he has lectured in Japan, the U.S.A. and Germany. Ken B. MASON (Dean 1965) now in Sydney as Chairman of the Australian Board of Missions writes that he is "relishing Sydney! Busy, cold, happy, well." He will be making trips in the near future to England, Africa, New Guinea and Manila, and is especially looking forward to being in Darwin for Clyde Wood's consecration on October 18th. Philip WEICKHARDT (1966) is working with ICI (Australian)
Organic Chemicals Group. He returned to Melbourne in 1978 after seven years abroad. In his spare time he is President of the Greythorn State Primary School. Ross STILLWELL (1967) is a specialist pathologist at St. Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne. Andrew ST. JOHN (1968) has recently spent some time in
Honiara, and in August will begin nine months' study at General Seminary, New York. Cameron KNEEN (1969) has recently returned to Perth after
eight years overseas in South Africa and the U.S.A. with Pioneer Concrete. He is now with Pioneer Concrete (W.A.) Pty. Ltd. Neil GORDON (1971) is the Registrar in surgery at the Raigmore
Hospital, Inverness. He has been completing his exams for the FRCS (Edinburgh). Early this year Warwick Anderson (1977) was working with him while in Scotland for the elective portion of his sixth-year medical studies. Howard PITT (1971) is in Melbourne, currently preparing
material for TAFE Off-Campus Studies. Peter H. STRACHAN (1972) married Helen Charge at the Royal Melbourne Zoo, where Chris Roper (Senior Student 1974) spoke on his behalf. Bill WRIGHT (1973) is working towards a PhD on long-term weather trends with the Department of Meteorology, University of Melbourne. Christopher DUNSTAN (Engineering tutor from 1974) is now Dean of Students at the Moses Brown School in Providence, Rhode Island, where he has been teaching Physics and Math(s) for the past four years. He recently spent pa rt of his summer vacation in Melbourne and was delighted to see the recent developments in Trinity. Miranda JELBART (1974). Our very good wishes to Miranda on
her marriage on 17th September to Roderick Wallbridge. She has moved away from the field of Geriatric Medicine and at the time of her marriage was working at the Western Region Rehabilitation Service of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Adelaide. Philip MAXWELL (1974) and his wife Deborah (née ELLIOTT
1975) leave for America in mid-August. Philip is being sent to New York by the Melbourne law firm of Blake and Riggall for
further experience in taxation law. Deborah, after working with HBA Medical Benefits for some time, has recently concentrated on caring for their one-year-old son Nicholas. Ross MUIR (1974) is now with the Australian Embassy in Jaka rta. He is married to Helen, a radiologist from Malaysia. Ron NOONE (1974), who recently returned from New York on a short visit to his home in Sydney and to see friends in Melbourne, is working towards a doctorate in Religious Education at New York University. He lives near General Theological Seminary where he is a tutor. Robert ADAMS (1975), after graduating in history, has been studying Italian Renaissance gardens at Perugia before setting off for Siena for yet more gardens. Pauline BARHAM (née STIGLICH 1975) is on maternity leave from Santa Maria College in Northcote where she went as a Science Teacher after tutoring in Chemistry at Trinity. Pauline was married nearly two years ago and is now enjoying being freed from other responsibilities to look after a young son, Andrew John. Tony AUSTIN (1976) has been a Student Counsellor at the Philip Institute of Technology for the past two years — a position he greatly enjoys. John BEAVERSTOCK (1976) is teaching at Ivanhoe Grammar, and since August has also been Organist and Master of the Choristers at All Saints' East St. Kilda. Fred GRIMWADE (1976) left at the end of August to study for an MBA at Columbia University, New York. Like Ed Billson, he is staying at International House, 500 Riverside Drive. Campbell HORSFALL (1976), after a most enjoyable year in Perth working for a mining company, has returned to Melbourne to work in the Legal Department of B.P. Nick THOMAS (1976), on secondment for six months from the Department of Agriculture in South Australia, is working in Canberra with the Bureau of Animal Health. Helen DE PURY (1977) has recently been back in Melbourne with her family during the French summer. She is studying wine-making in Bordeaux. Clearly, she is interested in maintaining a family tradition. Mark ELLINGHAM (1977) graduated MSc (Melb.) 1983 and is
proceeding with his PhD studies at the University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Anthony ROUSE (1977) repo rt s that he is still working with ICI in Explosives Department, and over the last 18 months has been involved with the development of a new technology and product range for the mining industry. Penelope PENGILLEY (1977) left in July to go via Amsterdam and London to Toronto. In Toronto she will study for a year for an LL.M. at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University. Chris PHILPOTT (1977) has been working in the Accounts
Branch of the ANU in Canberra for the past three years, while also studying Economics and Mathematics part-time with considerable success. He has maintained his collegiate allegiance by living in Bruce Hall. Andrew PETERS (1978) after serving as Assistant Priest of the Parish of Horsham and Priest-in-Charge of St. Aidan's Natimuk, is now Rector of St. Luke's, Hopetoun.
CONGRATULATIONS The Very Reverend Clyde Wood, Dean
of Darwin, has been elected Bishop of Darwin in succession to the Rt. Revd. Ken B. Mason.